[FFML][Fanfic][Ranma/FF7]Final Chaos 1/2 Part 2

The Final Chaos 1/2

by Rarstarr

Final Fantasy 7 and all characters and idea connected to it are the property of Squaresoft.

Ranma 1/2 and all characters and ideas connected to it are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, the English translation is the property of Viz comics.

Both are used here without permission for the purposes of Fan Fiction.

Readers are warned that this fanfic contains material that may spoil the plot of the computer game Final Fantasy VII. I apologise to any reader still playing the game. This part contains spoilers.

*****

Author's note
Thanks all for the C&C, and you can't blame me about the spoilers, I did warn you. In answer to Wraith, you're right character interaction is lots of fun.
Finally, just so you know, my Ranma knowledge is limited to what's in fanfics and the English translation of the mangas (the anime hasn't arrived in this country yet!)

*****

Final Chaos 1/2
Part 2: Priscilla's Pet

When Cloud crossed over the mountain ridge again he didn't stop, so Ranma and Akane's first sight of the great city of Midgar was at high speed. The huge city towered over them, casting its shadow on all below it. Cloud started to rein in his mount.

"I've never seen anything like it," murmured Akane, looking up.

"Midgar was Shinra's jewel, spent a lot of time and money building it. Once the upper level was one of the most opulent places on Earth, now it's almost deserted."

"Why?" Ranma inquired.

"Cloud!" a voice called from ahead.

The trio peered ahead to see a young woman running towards them. Cloud immediately burst into a smile. "Tifa!"
Cloud vaulted off Pride and ran to meet her.

"Where have you been? We expected you yesterday."

Cloud indicated the pair dismounting behind him. "Had to make a detour towards Junon." Ranma and Akane wandered over. "Ranma, Akane, this is my good friend Tifa Lockheart."

"So you going to explain this."

"Once we get back to the others. Come on."

After a quick trip through the sector five slums the group arrived at the Gainsborough house. "You know, that looks really out of place, considering the rest of the city," commented Ranma.

Cloud nodded as he tied off the Chocobos. "Even now this is the only place in or near Midgar that plants will grow."

"Yeah, and we've got Aeris to thank for that," said Reeve from the door. "About time you arrived Cloud. You're going to have to hurry to make Junon on time."

"Hey, what about us?" Ranma cried.

"Come on in, we've got a lot to talk about."

*****

"Your planet's alive?" asked Ranma incredulously. Barrett, Tifa, Reeve, Cloud, Akane and him where sitting around the table in the main room. Mrs Gainsborough was upstairs taking care of Marlene.

"Isn't yours?" Tifa inquired.

"Well yes, but not like that, not really, I mean..." he trailed off.

"It also doesn't help us get home," Akane pointed out.

"Yeah, well, all that history will help you understand two things. One, the monsters are created by modified Mako reactors..." Cloud begun.

"None of which are active anymore," Reeve added.

"And two, the only reason I turned up when I did was that the planet summoned me." This statement caused startled exclamations from around the table.

"Come on Cloud, that didn't even happen during the business with Sephiroth," Barrett declared.

Cloud laughed. "I don't mean I was told to go there. I just had a feeling. Also I came across Ranma and Akane fighting a Gagighandi."

Reeve frowned. "That's real bad news, but explains some reports I've received. I'll get the Turks on it immediately and start sending out patrols to protect travellers."

"Whoa," cried Ranma. "Who are you to do that?"

Cloud chuckled. "Sorry Ranma, I guess my introductions weren't complete. Reeve here is the current President of Shinra Industries, the company which pretty much runs our world." Ranma and Akane gazed at the man with surprise.

Reeve shook his head. "I'll have to stay in Midgar to deal with this, so I'll have to send along my alter ego with you guys. Just like old times really."

Barrett stood and held his gun arm in the air. "Once more Avalanche has to go to save the world!"

"What from?" Cloud asked simply.

*****

A small cream and purple cat made its way through the bushes. She didn't know where she was, she had been about to meet Ranma on his way to school, and now her bicycle lay in a river some distance back. That didn't bother her right now, the one things she needed most was hot water.

Making her way through the strange forest, the small cat wandered for a time before realising she was being shadowed by something large. She froze, waiting for the predator to move, which it did seconds later.

Like a bolt the cat shot away, dodging between trees, her pursuer right behind her. After what seemed long moments, the creature pounced, trapping her beneath its forepaw.

Shampoo squirmed around to look up into the face of an orange-brown wolf.

*****

"It's not a cat, it's just a stuffed toy," Ranma muttered continually as Cait Sith and his mog bounded along behind his Chocobo. The group was mixed in walking and riding. Cloud lead the group on foot, with Barrett and Marlene riding Pride behind him, Tifa, Akane and Ranma following behind them

Tifa nudged her mount over next to Akane's. "What's his problem?" she asked quietly.

Akane glanced over at Ranma. "He's deathly afraid of cats, and before you ask, it's a long story involving his father, martial arts training, seafood and a pit full of cats."

Tifa frowned in confusion. "How do those things fit together?"

"You don't want to know." Akane looked down at the gloves and armlet she now wore. "Thanks for these. By the way, why are you all carrying two weapons."

Tifa looked down at the gloves at her side. "These are Premium Heart, my most power pair of gloves. We each have a, um, ultimate weapon, I suppose, but we don't use them normally."

Akane nodded, and was about to continue when Cloud stopped and held up his hand. "Ranma, Tifa, dismount and come with me, everyone else, guard Marlene."

Quietly the three warriors snuck forward, to find a trio of the large lizard creatures Cloud and Ranma had found before.

"They're a different colour," Ranma noted. "Purple, not green."

Cloud nodded. "I've never seen them that colour, be careful, they may have different abilities. Ready?" The other two nodded. "Lets go."

The warriors burst the from bushes, leaping forward into combat. Tifa immediately delivered a powerful punch to her foe, which immediately countered with a swipe of its paw, sending her flying away. Cloud's sword slash left the creature unfazed, and he barely dodged the replying bite. Ranma's flying kick forced the creature he faced to step back, letting out a cry. It immediately turned its gaze upon Ranma, but only succeeded in striking the shrubbery as Ranma vaulted over its head onto its back.

Ranma's fist immediately blurred into motion as he pelted the back of the creature's head with a hundred quick punches. He jumped away as the creature vanished in a flash of red light. Tifa regained her feet, looking battered, bruised and majorly pissed off.

Two circles of yellow-green fire erupted around Tifa. "Lightning Bolt 3" she yelled. Lightning raked the battle field around the remaining two creatures, sending chunks of dirt flying into the air. Both creatures shuddered for a second, then vanished in flashes of red.

Ranma glanced around checking for enemies while Tifa stretched and Cloud twirled his sword. After a few seconds Ranma looked at Tifa.

"How the hell did you do that?" he demanded.

Tifa looked at him confused for a second, then smiled. "Of course, you wouldn't know." She held up her left hand and pointed to some jewels inlaid on the back of her glove. "These are Materia, they give us the knowledge to call upon the planet's power, or perform special combat moves."

Ranma smiled. "Sounds like fun, can I get some."

Cloud shook his head. "Sorry, all we've got are Tifa Lighting, a Restore and a few Alls, the rest of our Materia were stolen, and we never got round to getting more. You okay Tifa?"

"Nothing a few potions won't fix."

"Ranma?"

"Not a scratch," he returned smugly

"Good, lets get going. These things worry me, especially seeing as we couldn't hurt them with weapons."

"Ranma's punch seemed to work," Tifa pointed out.

"Actually it was a few hundred punches, but Cloud's right, my kick did nothing, so I probably just found a weak spot."

"Let's get back to the others, I think we should double up on the Chocobos and hurry on," Cloud told them.

*****

The creature had carried Shampoo a long way, but at it had searched around for something. The Amazon cat had continued to try to fight, but being held by the scruff of the neck left her with few options. Strangely the wolf seemed to be heading towards a collection of buildings atop a cliff.

Sure enough they soon reached the top of stairs leading tot the community. A large observatory sat atop the cave complex, it's telescope pointing into space.

"What have you got there, Nanaki?" the gate guard asked, kneeling before the wolf and taking Neko-Shampoo. She immediately clawed the man's arm, but only ended up scratching his armour.

"I found it out near the ancient forest, it smells domesticated, but I couldn't find any evidence of anyone else out there." Shampoo stared in shock at the wolf creature. It talked!

"Well, I'll get one of the kids to look after it until it's family turns up, and hey!" Shampoo wriggled out of his grasp and dashed towards the buildings.

Having searched through the caves and dodging any number of children grabbing at her, Shampoo finally found some hot water in a tub. She managed to tip the tub over on herself, and let out a scream.

"Water too hot, too hot!" she complained, looking for something to wear. She had just finished wrapping a sheet around, when Nanaki burst in with two of the other villagers.

"Hey, who are you?" demanded one of the men.

"Shampoo," declared the Amazons.

There was a pause. "Is that your name, or are you asking for something to clean your hair?"

Shampoo gave the man a dangerous glare. "Shampoo is name."

Nanaki paced over to the Amazon girl, sniffing. "You're the cat, I can smell it." He snorted.

*****

Junon was another impressive city. Nestled behind a tall hill. Shinra's airforce and navy base appeared as a single large building containing all of upper Junon. Once the Mako Canon had pointed out to sea from the centre of Junon, but that had been moved to Midgar, renamed the Sister Ray, and been destroyed during Meteor's defeat. Junon was now much more peaceful now that there were no enemies to fit. The group's arrival at lower Junon was anything but peaceful.

"Cloud!" cried a little girl, running up to the group as they dismounted.

"Priscilla!" Cloud smiled. "Good to see you!"

The girl threw herself into a hug with Cloud, after a few seconds she stepped back and frowned up at him. "You've been avoiding me, I haven't seen you in months!" she scolded him.

Cloud realised the others were all staring at him. "Ah, he he, yeah I'm sorry about that, I've been kind of busy," he stuttered, scratching the back of his head.

"That's okay!" Priscilla broke into a smile, then grabbed Cloud's hand. "Come on, I wanna show you what Mr. Dolphin brought me. Maybe you can tell me what Mr. Bwee is."

Ranma, overhearing this, straightened in shock. "Hey Cloud, mind if I come along."

"Sure, the more the merrier." Ranma hurriedly walked to catch up.

"Ranma you lazy good-for-nothing!" Akane shouted, throwing a rock at him.

"Uncute chick!" Ranma returned as he vanished from sight.

"Marlene! Not the whiskers! Not the whiskers!" They heard Cait Sith cry.

Ranma and Cloud followed Priscilla up the steps to her grandfather's house. Ranma watched the girl skip ahead of them for a few seconds before asking the obvious question.

"What's between you two?"

Cloud looked at him, and shock his head. "I saved her life, and now she says she's going to marry me. I used to stop by every couple of weeks, but haven't for awhile. It can be annoying at times." Cloud glanced up at Priscilla, but she hadn't heard.

Ranma laughed. "You've got it easy, I have four, at least."

"Four? I'm almost afraid to ask."

"Yeah, my pop and Akane's father decided we would marry before we were born. Then when I was about five, dad promised me to Ukyo, in exchange for food..."

"For food?!"

"Yep, only he ran out on her, and she sought us out in vengeance, but ended up becoming another fiancee. During one of my dad's training trips we met this Amazon called Shampoo, and I defeated her. Unfortunately by the laws of her people that meant she was married to me."

"Oops," Cloud said flatly.

"Finally there's Kuno Kodachi. She just fell in love with me, and is out to get me anyway she can, including drugs, poison and blackmail. Oh it gets worse, they're all martial artists, and Akane's the weakest."

Cloud sighed. "My life seems so much better after listening to you, I only had to battle the most powerful people in the world in order to stop a small planet from crashing into us. "

They finally reached Priscilla's home, and the little girl happily lead them into the one room house. "Wait here!" she ordered, and vanished behind the screen that separated the entry area from the rest of the room. Moments later she returned carrying a cage.

Ranma bent over, opened the cage and pulled out Mr Bwee. "Well pig, fancy meeting you here!" And with that P-Chan bit his hand.

*****

How much of Junon will be left after Ryoga calms down?
Why haven't we seen the scientists again?
Who stole Cloud's Materia (like we don't already know)?
In a battle between Avalanche and the Nerimans who'll win?
And would the person who borrowed my Ranma Graphic Novels please return them?

Some of these questions will be answered in Part 3 of Final Chaos 1/2.